Were they stuck? NASA’s Starliner astronauts finally weigh in

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA’s so-called stuck astronauts, after being home for two weeks, insist they did not feel stuck aboard the space station when their problem-plagued Starliner capsule was sent back to Earth without them.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams spoke to Bill Hemmer of FOX News, making their first public comments about the dramatically extended mission. They acknowledged that spaceflight is still a tough business and Wilmore even tried to take the blame for some of the Starliner issues.

Stuck or not?

The backstory:

Wilmore and Williams blasted off for the space station last June. They were the first astronauts to ride Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, but when their spacecraft experienced helium leaks and thruster issues, NASA decided it was safer for them to wait on the space station for a new ride home.

NASA shuffled the crew rotation for the space station, making room for the duo to ride home on the next planned space taxi home – a SpaceX Dragon capsule several months later.

In an emergency, they could have returned to Earth aboard the station’s Soyuz and Dragon ‘lifeboat’ capsules, but that would have left the station understaffed.

What they're saying:

Bill Hemmer asked Wilmore and Williams if they felt "stuck," "stranded," or "marooned," but Wilmore rejected that characterization.

"Any of those adjectives, they're very broad in their definition. So OK, in certain respects, we were stuck, in certain respects, maybe we were stranded. But based on how they were couching this, that we were left and forgotten and all that, we were nowhere near any of that at all."

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First thoughts

Both astronauts said they were prepared to stay longer than the planned eight-day mission, and they knew it would be harder on their families than themselves.

Butch Wilmore:

"Honestly, it's not about me. It's not about my feelings. It's about what this human spaceflight program is about. It's our national goals. And I have to wrap myself, my mind, around what does our nation need out of me right now?"

Suni Williams:

"You know, my first thought was, we’ve just got to pivot, right? So if this was the destiny, if our spacecraft was going to go home, based on decisions made here, and we were going to be up there till February, I was like, OK, let's make the best of it."

Opinion of Starliner

When Hemmer asked the crew if Boeing "screwed up" the mission, Wilmore declined to "point fingers" and even said he should shoulder some of the blame for not asking tougher questions before the flight.

Butch Wilmore:

"Spaceflight is hard. It's really hard. And we're using new technology to try to further and better ourselves. I can tell you the Starliner – as far as automation and manual control, and when all this fails, a system that you can still survive and get home – this is the most robust spacecraft we have in the inventory. There's nothing that can do everything that Starliner can do."

Suni Williams:

"I wouldn't really characterize it as that. You know, like Butch mentioned, the spacecraft is pretty complicated in the way they've integrated all the different types of systems together. It's pretty awesome. Putting people on spacecraft and launching them into space for a period of time, it's hard. It's not just, you know, here, jump in and go up and come back down. It is taking you to a destination with a rendezvous. That's hard. And there was a lot of work that was put in."

RELATED: Boeing, NASA execs reportedly fought in meetings over how to bring back stranded astronauts

Would they fly again?

Throughout the interview, both astronauts spoke of their love of spaceflight, the program, and the space station. While they both said they’d fly again, they each insisted they wouldn’t want to keep one of NASA’s many younger astronauts from getting a seat.

Butch Wilmore:

"If I'm called to go back? Sure. I'll go back…. If they asked me, and it would have to be a really dire situation for them to ask me, certainly I go. But these other people need to go."

Suni Williams:

"I go back. Absolutely. Yeah. I love being in space. Space is great. I joke around that it's a little vacation from Earth. But honestly, we have great people in our office who have the training and are ready to go. I would love to hand the helm to them."

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